Christopher Webber wrote:

>When he [Ed Zubrow] says that when watching he is "bored to tears", he
>presumably means that he is distracted from the (for him) all-important
>music by the paraphernalia of the staging.  Would he be equally bored
>if he closed his eyes?  I doubt it.

If one's eyes are closed, it should be so that he doesn't see the libretto!
I'm listening to Novak's "The Storm" at the moment, (OK, it's an oratorio),
and what music it is.  I've written at length about this wonderful
post-romantic composer, (see archives), and needless to say "The Storm"
met my every musically-perverse need.

But the libretto....

...ship departs...maiden bids farewell to lover...seamen on deck sing song
about ship's dwarf...lover sings of far-off maiden...storm brews...

we move below deck:

THE WOMAN AND THE SLAVE IN THE CABIN
Soprano solo: Do you hear now, my slave, the crackling sound in the ship's
side?
Baritone solo: I am no slave, a noble king am I! There was a time when Sudan
feared my fist, etc....

Baritone and Soprano solo: ...your fair brow I'll kiss all over...you are
stifling me...your lips are ruby red...the ship's side is open, the sea
storms in...I must be dreaming...for the love of Jesus, slave, this is no
dream...

CREW ON BOARD (multiple choruses)
It's wet like in a cesspool down below!  All hands to the pump! Ha, ha, ha,
etc....

SHOUTS FROM THE CABIN (I'm not making this up)
Soprano solo: For the love of Jesus, slave!

DRUNKEN MEMBERS OF CREW (multiple choruses)
Hop along, turn around, join the dance, mate, lay fear aside, for he who is
afraid is good for nothing, I say, no-no-no-no nothing, etc....

SHOUTS FROM THE CABIN
Soprano solo: Laa la la laaaa, laa, la la laaaaa!

(the mast of the ship collapses)
___________

Maybe it works better in the original language?  Luckily we get the music in
Novak's original language: post-romantic, excessive, voluptuous, melodically
inventive--everything you know you like.  The recording is on Supraphon
records with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zdenek Kosler
and recorded in what seems to be an aircraft hanger in 1978.

John Smyth
Sacramento, CA